A Crafty Business
by OCsRuleMyLife
Summary: The first year of college has been a year of seperation for the late class 3A. After experiencing high school together, which was a new story all its own, it's time for them to have a little reunion. Through the stereotypical luck of the group, they end up trapped inside a popular MMO, with no real grasp of how to escape. (Warning: mature themes, alcohol references, spoilers, yuri)
1. College is for All-Nighters

Chachamaru perched quietly on her bed, watching the flashing lights on a computer screen across the room before the eyes of Chisame Hasegawa. "Chisame-san, what is that game you are playing?"

Chisame's eyes remained plastered upon the screen. "World of Warcraft."

Chachamaru, as had grown to be quite nearly their custom since they began to room together for college, crossed the room, and sat upon the desk beside the computer, looking at Chisame. "What is it?"

Chisame's eyes, once again, remained stolid and unmoving. "It's an MMORPG."

The green haired robot made a face suggesting mild offence. "Chisame-san, I am aware that WoW is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. Other than that, I am rather clueless. That was more the direction of that particular query."

The bespectacled girl sighed, "Come and watch. I don't really know what the hell it is you want me to explain."

Her companion turned herself from her fulcrum on the table to view the computer screen. "You are tall, and very skinny. And your hips move somewhat too great an amount."

The gamer sighed, "I'm a blood elf. I'm meant to be highly sexually appealing."

"I can see that," Chachamaru paused for a moment, "Chisame-san… am I incorrect in the belief that the fandom of WoW is the spawn of such phrases as, "I'm not a lesbian, but I play one on Warcraft", "You say, 'I can get laid', I say, 'You can get that mod?'', and 'LoL, WoW.'?"

The face that Chisame provided in silent response read affirmatively and blatantly, 'duh.' However, as her somewhat incredulous eyes returned to the screen, she softly added, "That would be correct, yes."

The robot frowned, "And you willingly associate yourself with these products?"

The internet model nodded, "Of course. It's good for Chiu."

Chachamaru frowned, and thought for a moment before speaking, "Is there not some homework you may do instead? Something productive, perhaps?"

The response was a light shaking of her head, and a reply of, "Nope. And this is productive. I promised my viewers some good screenshots of some good implied fun."

Chachamaru's head rotated to Chisame slowly, "Are you referring to what I am afraid you are referring to?"

Chisame's shoulders raised and lowered in a small shrug, "My fans want some blood elf and draenei action. I just need to find a nice, sexy draenei…"

Chachamaru frowned, and quietly muttered, "I do not understand you…" then proceeded to swat Chisame's hands away from the keyboard gently, replacing the hands with her own. "You are being drastically inefficient." She brought the command prompt up to the bottom left of the screen, and began typing a long list of, seemingly, parameters. "Is gender relevant?"

Chisame's eyelids batted up and down a few times in a set of quick blinks, "Well, the viewers would probably prefer female…"

Chachamaru typed out another set of coded parameters, hit enter, and turned to Chisame, "A list of characters who fit your criteria has been sent to your email. I marked your criteria as Online, Female, Draenei, and in neutral territory or non-pvp, preferably neutral territory. I also had it search through their chat history, IP history, et cetera, and those individuals who meet that… particular aspect of the criteria will be at the top of the list. It will have their name and location listed.

Her roommate's eyelid batting increased, but eventually desisted as she spoke softly, "Ahm… Thanks…"

Her robotic helper's eyes sifted away, "You are welcome. I simply thought it a kind gesture, since we are roommates."

Once again, Chisame shrugged. "Yeah… well… yeah…"

The room was cloaked in an awkward silence for a while, on one count for the contemplation of why she would aid her roommate in such a lewd and lackadaisically unfocused action, and on the other how her roommate knew the coding to acquire the information now streaming onto her screen. Chachamaru finally broke the silence, "Thought, I must say, Chisame-san… when you are done, finish your homework."

"Yeah, yeah." Chisame waved the suggestion away, returning to what she had previously been doing.

Chachamaru stood, and trekked across to her bed. "I am serious. You are aware that the paper you have been blowing off is still due tomorrow, correct?"

Once again, Chisame waved the comment away, now utterly focused on her mission.

The green haired girl sighed, and proceeded into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water—a feature she had been immensely grateful to Hakase-san for as with the gift of consumption came the gift of powdered donuts.

The dorm they stayed in was inhabited by themselves, Mana and Kaede in the room beside their own, Konoka and Setsuna somewhere down the hall, and many other mundane, regular individuals. At that moment, from about five feet past the wall in the direction of Mana and Kaede's room, a large ruckus occurred. "Because I'm watching it, slant-eye! That means don't turn off the televi—God, OPEN YOUR DAMN EYES."

The reply to this, barely audible, was simply, "No."

Chisame sighed at the ensuing interaction on the other side of the wall.

Chachamaru, however, dropped her water in surprise, and spilled it onto her shirt as the first voice shouted, 'OPEN'. She swore softly—a bad habit she had been picking up from Chisame—and returned to the main room, quietly stripping off her top to examine the spill, and wiping herself clean with a napkin. She was not particularly fond of being wet. It wouldn't hurt anything, but she never quite got over that stage of early development when it did. And thus she mopped at her chest with a napkin, which was now entirely visible by reflection on the darker parts of Chisame's screen.

Chisame, in a court of law, under waterboarding, and being interrogated by death itself, would not have admitted to where her eyes rested and observed on the screen.

Muffled through the reasonably thick wall, the sound of a silenced gun firing was heard. "Then shut up and go back to sleep. I'm WATCHING the TELEVISION. If you take one more step towards that button, it will be a rubber bullet to the temple… I think. I don't remember what was after the blank."

A quiet sigh found some method of osmosis through the wall as well, "Then can you at least turn it down a little, please? The sound of those men testing that rocket launcher woke me."

As Chachamaru examined herself, she made a face of concern, finding that her bra was sufficiently soaked—the garment itself being caused by her fleshing out from Hakase-san. She sighed, and looked to the computer to make sure that Chisame was still looking at the screen. Finding the result to be in her favor, she slipped her hands around her back and unclasped her bra, sliding it off, and retrieving another napkin to better wipe herself down.

Through the wall, there came a small, nearly inaudibly grumbling. Suddenly, the sound of television speakers blaring quite loudly as a handgun fired repeatedly struck through the wall. "Oh, MY BAD." This was followed up by an almost silent snicker.

The following sound was a most evident sound of surprise, "Turn it down!"

"Hm? I'm sorry, Kaede, I can't hear you over the sound of this wonderful television program. Perhaps you should consider returning to sleep."

This caused Chachamaru to jump, accidentally bumping into her bed and fell over onto it, her back slumped against the wall and her face towards the computer. At this moment, she turned red, realizing what had been going on. "Chisame-san, keep your eyes on your game."

Chisame blushed as well, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Suddenly, then, it sounded as though a wrestling match had begun between Kaede and Mana. "Give me the remote."

This was coupled with a set of malicious laugher from Mana, suggesting that the remote had been neither threatened by Kaede's hands nor would it be in the position they were currently in.

Chachamaru sighed, opening her drawer, and putting on a bra and tugging on a slim well-fitting shirt, which caused Chisame to continue 'focusing on her game'. Chachamaru collapsed down onto her bed, but quickly remembered the drink she wanted, standing, and returning to their kitchen.

There was an 'Mmph!' of pain and surprise across the wall, immediately coupled with the retort, "If your mouth gets that close to my inner thigh EVER again, my hands had better be tangled in your hair!"

A soft chuckle, and, "I would enjoy that very much."

The immediate response, "Go back to sleep and maybe you'll dream about it. The day when you can stick the end of this gun in your mouth without gagging or fearing that I might blow your brains out is the day I will let you do that."

"Alright… fine. Just turn down the television, please."

Chachamaru returned to the room with her glass of water, and turned her head to Chisame after taking a sip, "Chisame-san, just use admin teleport from that mine game you play. Have you never spliced code before?"

Chisame made a face, "Of course I have. Shut up and drink your fricken' water."

Chachamaru regained her perch aside the computer. "Then tp to the best candidate."

"I want to see them first. Besides, that would be a little weird. The search is part of the fun."

The volume of the television next door sounded as if it has been changed by one single click of the volume button. There was a sigh, and silence reigned from the next room.

Chachamaru shrugged and sipped her water again. "Though, I do quite seriously ask that you finish the paper. I am afraid that I am tired of hearing complaints from your professors about the lack of incoming required homework, and the only somewhat less common inquiries as to why I would room with such a procrastinating urchin."

Chisame paused her game for a moment, "Shut up, stupid robot. I don't need your criticism."

The tall roommate returned to the kitchen, placing the glass away. "But you do, however, need the grades."

The shorter of the two made a little noise, going back to what she was doing, which was paired with Chachamaru returning to her bed to sleep. "Alright, Chisame. While I still do not understand the purpose, finish your base human sexual desire in a reasonable allotment of time, if you would be so inclined. It would cause me deep regret to see you sick."

Meanwhile, Haruna shamelessly kept her two roommates quite awake and quite incapable of falling asleep as she engaged herself in the same game as Chisame, "Dammitdammitdammitdammit… GOD DAMN MONKS. Monks should never have been created. Their pvp is way too—awwwwwww. That was Chao. I just got my ass kicked by a geek playing on a cell phone."

Nodoka made a small sound of frustration, "Paru, can't you keep it down a little?"

Haruna spun in her swivel chair, taking a good long look at Nodoka, "Nodoka Miyazaki, under what purported authority do you complain?"

Yue groaned from her bed on the other side of the room, "The authority of rational mind."

Nodoka swallowed and stuttered, averting her eyes from Haruna's, "I-I… I-I just want to get some sleep…"

Haruna stood and glowered at them, "Sleep when you're dead! College is all about staying all night!"

Yue sat up, and swung her legs toward Haruna, "Haruna, college is most certainly about attaining relevant knowledge to your field of interest, then acquiring degrees with which to pursue the aforementioned field."

The manga-ka made a face at her vertically challenged roommate, "Nope. Definitely about all-nighters."

The shorter girl, having no practical response to such an impractical answer, simply returned to her position, resembling an attempt at spooning her blanketing, and Nodoka attempted burying her head under her pillow in order to sleep, which earned a pencil hurled like a javelin from the hand of their tyrannical ruler of a roommate, and she groaned into the pillow. Haruna sat back down into her swivel chair, and turned, recommencing the yelling and complaining at the computer screen, and occasionally addressing the other actual carbon life forms in the room with something along the lines of, "One day, you'll regret hating on my playing of this game!"

Haruna had spent the majority of the free time in the day in an attempt to reach level 90 within twenty four hours, and was dangerously close to achieving it. When she finally did complete this task, she collapsed backward in her chair. "Oh, the stress relieved… oh, the wonderful accomplishments achieved…"

The baka leader in the corner once again retorted quietly, "Congratulations. You are master of the internet at pressing buttons."

"No one appreciates a pessimist, Yue."

Nodoka, who was currently jamming her face into her ever more attractive pillow, spoke in an extremely muffled manner, "Can you turn it off now? Or at least quiet down a bit?"

Haruna's creaking footsteps were then barely audible. "Miyazaki. Do I need to subjugate you?"

Nodoka quickly and in a manner quite similar to that of a mole, burrowed under her covers. "Noooo… I'm sorry, Paru-samaaaaaaa…"

The dominant woman snickered wickedly, "That's what I thought. Good little girl." She then returned to the computer with the initial intention of powering it down, "Okay. Time for some shut-eye for the Great Paru-sama." She paused for a moment, and rethought her decision, "Well, maybe some good, fun, pornographic images would be an enlightenment to my evening. Interwebs, reveal your panties and penises to me!"

While she busied herself with that particular engagement, the other two managed to slip off into a reasonable sleep.

Contrastingly, in another room in yet another dorm, Sakurako lay quietly on her bed, frowning at her roommate, "Misa, stop making WoW sex and get off of the computer."

Misa glanced back at her briefly, "But why? It's so hot."

Sakurako stood, and walked over quietly, peeping over Misa's shoulder. "Ewwww, she's blue and has tusks!"

The sitting girl looked up at her incredulously, "Of course she does. And she's sexy, so leave her alone."

Sakurako frowned, and was contemplative of the situation for a moment, "She is so... busty..." She poked Misa straight in her face a few times, "Are you making sex animations to upload again? Did you download the formatting of this character? Madoka's asleep, so I memorized what she always asks."

The self-proclaimed queen of all things erotic gave a look that read, 'what ELSE would I be doing?', but her words said, "Of course I am. Why don't you join Madoka?"

The less proclaimed ditz made a face, "I don't want to have sex right now, though..."

Misa slammed her head on the table, her question having been missed entirely. However, out of legitimate curiosity, looked up and asked, "Why ever not?"

Sakurako looked at her flatly, "Because."

The long-haired girl frowned, "That's not a good reason."

Sakurako was silent for a bit, ignoring the loaded response, but finally asked, "Why can't you let us use the computer?"

Her roommate glanced at her again, "Because you never ask."

The standing girl made a 'pouty face', "But it's college, everyone needs a computer, duh!" This received naught but a shrug, so Sakurako continued to pout at her profoundly.

Misa looked back at her again eventually, and asked, "Do you want to use the computer, Sakurako?"

Sakurako shook her head, and answered blatantly, "No. Madoka told me to say that too."

Misa nodded slightly, silently being grateful that Sakurako was so honest, "Okay. Is that all?"

Sakurako nodded pensively, "I think so... oh, wait. Madoka says to turn your boyfriend's volume down when he comes in. She says she can't sleep when he moans."

Misa laughed with her usual degree of mirth, "Okay."

Sakurako laughed quietly as well, and then was quiet for a moment, seeming to be considering something. Finally, she spoke softly, "Misa, do you love us? Like sisters?"

Misa turned in her chair, a little surprised. "Of course I do. Why?"

Sakurako's full force of a tackle was put into the embrace that she now shared with her roommate, "Yay~!"

Misa smiled, coughed out the air that had been shot, and hugged her back. This hug lasted a few moments, before the large-eyed, perpetually childish one let go and spoke in her usual manner, "I was just asking because."

Misa chuckled slightly, "Ah."

Sakurako turned back towards her bed quietly, seeming once again to have herself caught in a mental dilemma, "Hmmm..."

Misa looked back at the computer screen, continuing working on her animation with a, all puns aside, lusty passion, "Hmmm?"

The rhetorical, and rhetorical only, thinker, was silent once more, eliciting nothing but the sound of breathing for a good thirty seconds, "I dunno if I wanna sleep."

Misa shrugged slightly, "I don't either. But I guess that's because I'm busy." She chuckled softly.

Remaining deep in some meaningful thought on the idea of sleep, Sakurako sat down upon her mattress, "Hmmm."

Misa tapped her chin and lifted her cell phone to usable range, dialing a number and putting it on her shoulder, trapping it between that and her ear, and continuing with her porn making, while her roommate watched her, evaluating the situation, "What are you doing?"

The other girl sat in wait, "Trying to determine whether I'm going to bed after this, or over to my boyfriend's room."

Sakurako chuckled "Just turn his volume down!"

Misa made a face and puts her phone down, not responding to that particular aspect, and turning to her, "You know, I keep getting this weird feeling he's cheating on me."

Sakurako made a face of worry, "How do you know?"

Misa lifted her shoulders slightly, "I don't know. Something about the way he's acting, combined with the fact that he let his phone go to voicemail just now..."

"Maybe he's sleeping."

"He turns his phone off when he goes to bed..." She shrugged again and gave a small chuckle, "Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I don't know."

Sakurako stood up and hugged her roommate gently, "I know you like him, but if he's cheating on you... there are plenty of fish in the sea..."

Misa hugged her back for the second time in the night, "You're right. I'll talk to him in the morning."

"See?" Sakurako brought her lips around into a puckered format that greatly resembled those of a fish.

Misa laughed, and gently pushed Sakurako's fish-face away, "You could make anyone's day, Sakurako. Thanks."

Sakurako let her go, and clapped her hands together gently, her eyes now aglow and aflutter, "Yay, you're not sad anymore~..."

"How can I be sad when I have you around to comfort me?"

The response to this was an ear to ear grin, showing off Sakurako's spectacularly white teeth, "Awww, that's sweet!" She kissed her cheek gently, "You'll find someone who's worth your time."

Misa chuckled softly, and a little sadly, "I sure hope so."

The now acclaimed comforter returned to her position on her mattress, "Maybe you'll meet someone soon."

Misa shrugged and looked back at her labor, "Yeah. Because if that bastard is cheating on me, I'm dropping him."

Sakurako nodded vigorously, possibly giving herself a mild case of whiplash, "Uh-huh!"

The other girl cracked her back in the chair, "Just a couple more things, then I'm going to bed."

Sakurako lay down, cuddling her blankets to herself, "To sleep for me now..."

It was safe to say that Sakurako, in the midst of a troll's relaxed moans and slow speech coming from the computer, was quickly off to sleep.

Just down the hall from them, an unlikely rooming pair was performing an almost routine nighttime ritual. Ayaka sat swinging her legs back and forth from her top bunk, her face contorted into a somewhat distraught expression, "Kagurazaka Asuna, get your monkey butt into bed, and stop driving me crazy with that incessant noise from the television. I don't give a damn about your stupid American games, so don't say that you're in the middle of a round or something like that."

The addressed did not respond.

Ayaka, now in a fit, wrapped her fingers around a water bottle, then discharging it from the very same fingers and in a direct parabola to intercept the stationary position of Asuna's head. "Listen to me! Go to sleep!"

With a singular, deft swipe of an agile hand, the water bottle went skidding across the floor. "Busy!"

The blond girl slid down the side of the bunk, and launched herself into a full-tilt barrage upon the other girl. "Turn off the damn TV!"

Asuna immediately engaged in defensive measures, sputtering out, "No!"

Having spent so much time abroad with Negi and Kotarou, Ayaka had become a fairly significant deal stronger. Thus, the resultant struggle was one in which the volume created would not sound good to anyone listening. In particular, the high school class's very own reporter, who leaned against the wall beside their door, taking some notes. She had been in the business of checking up on former classmates to see what they were up to in college, as well as prepare to initiate a get-together for the old class. However, in just a casual walk down the hall, hearing the words exchanged in this encounter, this opportunity was just too good to pass up.

"GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF MY HAIR! OW! YOU LITTLE—"

"Then let go of my leg!"

After a series consequentially of successive thumping, Ayaka's voice came somewhat, barely, by some tiny fraction, more softly than before, "That is the dirtiest thing you have ever done… in many ways."

Kazumi snickered in amusement, and quickly jotted that down. Before she could entirely finish it, there was a grunt, accompanied with, "Mmph… ah, no, stop, get that… IF YOU SHOVE THAT AT ME ONE MORE TIME… MMPH!"

Kazumi collapsed sideways in a dangerous fit of giggling. But the worst was not yet over, "Or what? You'll wrap your legs around me again?"

The reporter was nearly having convulsions of laughter on the floor, but continued to attempt to write it all down. After more thumping, Ayaka growled harshly, "Get off of me and go to sleep!"

Inside the room, Asuna attempted to pin Ayaka to the floor, "I just want to finish my damn show!"

Ayaka's arm jolted out for the remote, but it was easily caught from her disadvantaged position.

"You've been waiting for this for way too long."

Kazumi had no choice—her pencil fell from her hand in laughter.

"Shut up."

Ayaka stared up at Asuna. At that moment, things began to mean exactly what they sounded like. "Is this some twisted romance attempt? Because it really just makes me inclined to kill you."

The girl outside sighed in amusement, "Why did they even room together…?"

Asuna glowered at the girl under her, "No. It's not. Go the hell to sleep. The show is almost over."

The girl on bottom kneed the girl on top, "Get off of me and maybe I will. I'm not sleeping with you on top of me."

With a shove, they were separated again, both grumbling quietly. Ayaka returned to her bunk, spitting out a few quick words, "Sometimes I really hate you."

"Yeah, well, the feeling's mutual."

This resulted in a swift kick to the head. Deciding that this event could go on all night, Kazumi stood, stretched, and walked down the hall, adjusting her satchel accordingly. She was not particularly interested in attending her early classes with a lack of sleep. Arriving at her dorm room, she unlocked and opened her door slowly, stepping in as she would regularly. Since she roomed alone, she flipped on the light switch without worrying if anyone cared.

However, not even Kazumi Asakura's life was writ to be without stress. Through a complex series of contraptions and strings and a bucket, Kazumi's head was left covered in a strawberry jam or syrup, she couldn't quite tell which.

She stood in her doorway for a moment, then shook her head slowly, "Okay, Kazumi… just keep on walking. It's just stuff on your head, right? Quick shower." With this in mind, she took a few steps toward her bathroom. Upon reaching the door to the bathroom, turning its handle, opening it, and stripping, a chain reaction of coatings and ballistics pummeled her from all sides, resulting in her being covered with what one would generally make a sundae out of.

Kazumi, now mildly frustrated, turns, and sticks her head into the hallway, loudly saying, "And when I turn on the shower, it'll be chocolate syrup, I'm sure!" Contradictory to what good sense was screaming in her mind, she stepped into the shower and turned it on.

In truth, she was actually quite wrong about her hypothesis of chocolate syrup being siphoned from the showerhead. It was whipped cream. Kazumi cursed either the twins or Misora, whichever had rigged her entire living quarters. Suddenly, a cherry managed to pop out and land on her head. Her eyes flattened out, and a large bead of sweat dropped along the back side of her head. She turned, and found her answer to the culprit immediately. A troll face was drawn on the shower wall, tagged with the words, 'You mad, bro?'

Still completely naked, and entirely coated in sundae, walked into her main room, pacing, now positive Misora was behind the act of hygiene terrorism. From outside her door, much laughter echoed obnoxiously, and Kazumi entirely shamelessly opens the door, no longer caring about her nudity. "Hey there."

There lay Misora, lying on the floor, laughing to a degree that it appeared to hurt her sides. Kazumi then was struck with a brilliant, unparalleled idea, matchless in execution, and utterly worth the awkward factor that would ensue. To turn the trolling around, she locked her hand along Misora's wrist, tugging her into the room, shutting the door, and pushing her into a chair. She stood before Misora, one hip jutted outward. "So… you wanted a sundae? Go ahead. Lick me."

Misora's laughter instantly died, and she coughed awkwardly. "No thanks."

The new troll in charge leaned forward, allowing some cleavage dangle just in front of Misora's face, allowing sundae materials to drip onto her. She put her hands, then, on the back of the chair. "Oh, no licking? So are you a biter? I personally like to suck the tip of the sundae and pull it in with my lips, then take a few bites and licks. But whatever you do is cool too."

Misora was utterly speechless, and, although Kazumi was inwardly just as unsettled, the revenge was drastically more satisfying. She leaned down and whispered, "Come on, Misora… somebody has to clean me off… and it would be great if it were your body."

She winked gently, and Misora's face turned redder than a spelling correction on Microsoft Word. Kazumi softly slipped a finger into Misora's mouth, then just as softly slid it out, and put it in her own. _Wow. This is the cheapest tasting whipped cream…_ She pulled the finger out with a light pop, her eyes never leaving Misora's face. She then leaned in, her warm breath against Misora's cheekbone, and let her lips brush where her breath was softly caressing. "So, Misora… how about we have a sweet, delicious, sugary, syrup-covered sundae together?"

Thus, the red on Misora's face became a plain crimson, now seriously weighing whether or not she was going to be a rape victim in the next forty minutes. As Kazumi stepped towards the bedroom, her hips swaying gently, she bolted out the door faster than a cheetah with a crab on its toe. Kazumi nearly collapsed with the succeeding laughter, determining that the method by which she had chosen revenge was entirely worth it.

After Kazumi finally completed the intended shower, she extracted her phone and dialed up Misora.

"'Lo?"

Kazumi's smile was audible through the phone, "Misora! It's Kazumi. I'm just curious where you're rooming… and how you knew where I was, but more where you are. I'm checking in on all the girls in our old class."

"I met up with a couple of old classmates, actually, and they knew where you were. I'm actually not that far from you. I'm surprised you hadn't found me yet."

"Well, you can safely bet that any attempt to prank me again will be reciprocated AT LEAST twofold. I will find you for future reference."

"Oh my…"

Kazumi chuckled, and seated herself in her comfortable chair in the main room. "So, still busy with being a simultaneous nun and lolicon?"

"I'm not a lolicon. But I am continuing with the nun thing right now."

"Taking any particularly fun classes, LOLICON?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

Kazumi groped about for a pad of paper, then got herself comfortable once more. "What might they be?"

Misora listed off her classes, which Kazumi, somewhat ambivalently, scribed quietly. "Mhmm… oh, hey, Misora, what days are you free this month? I'm hoping to get a reunion together. Yes, yes, already. After all, we went through a lot of stuff together. We can't just drift apart."

"Mm… I'm pretty much free any day, aside from the 24th to the 28th. Just tell me when and I'll make room."

Kazumi leaned back gently in her chair, "Wonderful. I'll work on that. See if I can't get us a good venue. Well, see you later."

"Yep. Bye."

Kazumi hung up, and leaned back in her chair, relaxing momentarily, before remembering sleep, and heading to bed.

* * *

I know this is a change from my regular Hetalia, but I thought a change might be refreshing. Beware, if you didn't notice before, there will be spoilers. By the plenty. So read up before you read... this. Regardless, please review, and have a fantastic night!


	2. Lingshen

The lights faded dimly as a flash seemed to suck the energy out of the area along Cherry Blossom Street. The lights flickered as the figure who appeared brushed themselves off, then flapped their large coat gently. They fixed a bun on their hair, making sure they were entirely in order, and finally stepping into the now regular light. Chao Lingshen took her steps carefully, fully aware that she may be entirely unable to discover where her friends were currently residing. She walked with her hands behind her back, contemplatively, thinking about the possibilities and letting them mix about in a soft muddle in her brain. She eventually decided to enter the school, and see if it wasn't too late to find someone with a room roster. If not, she would make her best effort to find the spots the late-night wanderers usually kept themselves out to. She entered the school, and discovered that, as she feared, there was no one there. She turned, and walked toward the World Tree. She remembered many a night sparring with Ku there. Whether or not the Chinese girl still studied her ancient practices there, or even attended the school any longer, was out of her control. It was probably too late, but she had nothing better to be doing.

"Ah, Linghsen." The voice came eerily from the light post above her.

Chao's immediate reaction was to slide her right hand into her coat as she wheeled, looking up.

Evangeline waved with a soft, sadistic chuckle, "Oh, no need to prepare a counter attack."

The grounded girl's hand exited her coat, and she continued walking. "That is reassuring. I am tired of fighting. Thought I'd come back for a visit." She grinned at Evangeline as she did to anyone, with a strange vibrancy that never seemed to dull or fade.

With a twist and a twirl, the vampiric girl was hanging upside down on the street lamp. "Aha. Seems reasonable."

"I certainly thought so. Do you know where anyone is staying?"

A shrug accompanied a short answer, "I know where Aisaka is, and I'm fairly certain Aisaka knows where Asakura is. Like as not, though, they're going to college here."

Chao stretched, a small pop emitting from her back, and released a quiet, 'mm'. "Well, where's Sayo-chan? If I get to Asakura, I get to everyone."

Evangeline directed a small, pale finger in the direction of the convenience store. "Where else?"

"Is that where she stays all the time now?"

"Of course not. She's kept and old dorm room, and she doesn't share it."

Chao crossed her arms momentarily, then stepped off in the direction of the convenience store. Before she went, however, she looked back, "Oh, Eva. It's nice to see you again." She then trod her way along the paths and streets, slowly acquiring her bearings, finding everything exactly as she remembered it, and finally arriving at the convenience store, as Evangeline continued her prowling.

As Chao arrived, Sayo was seated quietly in front of the convenience store. Chao's eyes swept the area quietly two or three times to locate the ghost, and then quickly made her way over. "Boo."

Sayo gave a quiet 'eep'. "Chao-chan?!" She shot upright, or as upright as a ghost could get, and quickly came as close to a tight hug as she could administer.

Chao laughed, and put her arms as around Sayo as really any person could, "Yes, Sayo. It's me."

"Yay! You're back!"

"Only for a little, ne. I'm just going to spend some time here with you all, if I can find you."

"Oh, you're looking for Kazu-chan, huh?"

With a soft laugh, Chao put a hand on her hip, "I was looking for you. But I will need to find her eventually, yes."

"I'm happy you're back… we all missed you."

"That's nice to hear. I thought you might have forgotten me, ne." She tapped her finger lightly upon Sayo's ghostly nose.

Sayo laughed, "Kazu-chan's probably sleeping. I can take you to her in the morning!"

Softly chuckling, Chao nodded, "Sure. Sounds good to me."

"You can stay in my room for tonight, if you want!"

Chao put her hands behind her back, swaying back and forth slightly, "That would be lovely."

Finally releasing her captive from the hug, Sayo grinned, "Want to head there now?"

Stepping back, Chao motioned, "Lead on."

And so she lead. Chao followed, in silence for a short time, but quickly got to asking questions about the wellbeing of various individuals, asking about the class, and the people, and how everyone had been. Every question posed was answered quickly and directly, throwing light on the possibility that Sayo has been a little lonely since everyone moved on.

"Sayo-chan, you should find someone to spend more time with."

The ghost sighed, "Like who? The others are all so busy with college and stuff, and I'm a ghost, so…"

She stroked her chin, then smiled, "How about the princess of the underworld? She liked spending time with you, right?"

A blue tinge graced Sayo's cheeks faintly, and her eyes averted. "I guess so kinda maybe…"

"Awwww, is Sayo-chan embarrassed?"

The blue slowly spread, and become gradually more pronounced.

"It's fine to be embarrassed, Sayo-chan."

"I'd hang out with Zazi-chan if she wanted to, yeah… but I don't see her all that much, really…"

Chao slid her hands into her coat pockets, "Sayo-chan, I am quite certain Zazie-san would love to spend time with you."

Once again, the blue turned bluer, "It would be nice to have someone to talk to…"

With a wave of a hand, "Don't worry about it! Just go ask her to go hang out."

"Okay, I will!"

Chao chuckled, and followed Sayo up the stairs, down the hall, and to the door of the room, ending up stopping inside. She slowly grinned, and collapsed into a chair. "Well, my work here is done. Time to go back home." With that she delved her hands into her pocket, removing Cassiopeia.

The ghost girl attacked her arm with as much viciousness as a doorknob. "Nuuuuuuueeeeee!"

Chao laughed quietly, "I'm kidding, Sayo-chan. Go to sleep… or whatever it is ghosts do."

The ghost gave a sigh of relief, and sank into a chair, sitting and staring at the wall quietly, while crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, Evangeline's prowl was interrupted by a loud, obnoxious, but quite calm voice, "You seem to be enjoying yourself, poyo."

Evangeline glanced back, and gave a half shrug.

"Oh, then your life needs to be made a bit more interesting," the voice chuckled.

A raised eyebrow was given in reply to Poyo's strange remark, "Ahm…"

The demon queen vanished into the ground, then rematerialized beside her with an off-kilter smirk. "You all seem so normal, now, poyo. Maybe I should change that," With a wink, she pulled out a card, handing it to Evangeline gingerly, and grinned wickedly. "Don't lose it, poyo!"

Examining the card, Evangeline asked, "What's this? What are you talking about?"

Poyo's arms slid gently behind her back, "It will certainly make your life more interesting, poyo. Lose it, and… well, you will not be too pleased with the result, shall we say."

"Ahm…"

"You have twelve days. After twelve days, the cared will release a… well, your life will start getting quite interesting, poyo. If you lose it, your life will be stuck that way. It's not that complex. The key is in the lock, poyo!" She smiled sweetly before adding a brief clause, "Consider it a favor, poyo."

"I don't really like the sound of that…"

Nothing but a chuckle was left in the spot that Poyo Rainyday stood, and it continued to chuckle, like a demented Cheshire cat in a horrific version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. While the chuckle remained there, the physical embodiment of Poyo situated itself hanging from a light pole. "Perhaps that is good, poyo. We shall see." With that, she vanished entirely, and the chuckle faded slowly, and footsteps seemed to run away from Evangeline in all directions.

She tucked the card into her pocket, frowning slightly. It was nothing but an ID-sized plastic white sheet. She tapped her chin softly, attempting to divulge some method of solving this problem. She ultimately concluded that she would keep it to herself, and the campus remained eerily silent for the remainder of the night.

In the morning, Chao remained sitting in exactly the same position, eyes closed, arms crossed, not having moved an inch, her chest still heaving. Her life in her world was quite stressful, and it was blatantly evident by her restful sleep. Sayo was floating around the room quietly, simultaneously surprised at Chao's long sleep and knowing exactly why she was. She pitied her. As Chao finally opened her eyes slowly, she blinked once or twice, "What time is it…?"

"About quarter to eleven. Did you sleep well?"

"Indeed… probably a bit too well, yo."

Sayo's head tilted, "Eh?"

"I had wanted to get up a bit earlier, ne."

"You obviously needed that extra time."

"Perhaps."

They were silent for a few moments, before Sayo finally broke it with, "Let's go find some food for you. Some of the others eat at Chao Bao Zi for lunch, so we can go over there when you're ready, if you want."

Standing slowly, Chao muttered tiredly, "Then that seems like the best option. Does Satsuki still own it?"

"Of course she does! She couldn't hand it over to someone else."

Chao smiled, "Oh… I'm glad. I think we should go, ne."

Sayo nodded vigorously as Chao opened the door, and walked stiffly out into the hallway, beginning to walk towards the stairs. Sayo tagged along behind her cheerily as usual, all the way to Chao Bao Zi.

As they approached, Satsuki's face lit up as much as Satsuki's face ever lit up, and she waved at them with a broad smile. She threw a sponge over her shoulder, which went in a perfect arc to a direct impact on the back of Satomi's head. Satomi, however, managed to swipe it away before it could actually make contact. "What?"

Satsuki pointed silently out the front window of the Chao Bao Zi, and Satomi was instantly beside her, grinning. "Chao!"

Chao nearly leapt through the window to hug her best friend, "Hakase-san…"

Satomi slipped out the window to hug Chao back happily, and they were very tightly locked together briefly. "Hakase-san, I'm so glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you too, Chao."

Eventually, they let each other go, and Chao quickly spewed, "You have to tell me everything that's happened!"

"Of course!"

Chao's head turned a bit as Chachamaru skated over from a table she was serving, "Chao-san. It is wonderful to see you."

The three of them commenced having a conversation, which was mostly dominated by Chao and Satomi, as Chachamaru only gave small inputs every once and a while. Satsuki remained content at her cooking, and Sayo floated about somewhat aimlessly. Some of the other members of the class showed up to the happy surprise. On one particular instance, once Haruna had finished her overexcitement that Chao had returned, remembered that that meant that Chao had been gone the night before. "Waiiiiiiit… then who killed me last night on WoW?"

Satomi raised her hand with a smile and a wink. Haruna was suddenly careening down upon Satomi, "Whatthehellcomeon!"

Satomi laughed, dodging Haruna, and beginning a chase around the area.

Suddenly, Chao was tackled from behind, gave a loud, 'OOMPHSH' and fell over. "Chao! You is back! I is miss you so much!"

Chao laughed, not needing to pick herself up to know who had just hugged her. "I missed you too, Ku."

Ku let Chao up, then, grinning at her in her slightly skewed way. Chao gave a small smile back, "I'm very glad to see you, Ku."

"I glad see you too."

Chao wrapped her arms around Ku, much more softly than she had around Satomi, and Ku's arms gently encased her as well. They were silent for a moment, and, to their luck, Haruna was too busy chasing Satomi to notice her curls shoot directly up into the air. When Chao eventually let go, she remained holding Ku's shoulders. "How have you been doing? It's been so long!"

Ku remained all smiles, "I been fine… tho' it no been same with you no here. How you is been?"

The product of the future shrugged, "I'm still alive."

"That is important thing."

"I guess."

Ku hugged her softly again, "You what matter to us."

Chao put her chin on Ku's shoulder gently, and said, "Well, I think I'll stay for a little while."

Ku's face returned to her bright smile, "That very happy."

Chao stretched out of the hug, "Not totally sure where I'll stay, though."

Sayo smiled and floated over to them again, "You can keep staying with me if you want, Chao-chan!"

Ku chuckled softly, and Chao smiled at the ghostly girl, "Sayo-chan, as much as I like that chair of yours…"

"You can take the bed. If you hadn't fallen asleep so quick, I'd have let you have it last night too."

Smirking, Chao spoke slyly, "No, you need to fill it with a certain someone."

As blue as blue could get was not blue enough to describe the shade Sayo's cheeks turned in that moment. Haruna suddenly reappeared, a large lock of Satomi's hair in her hand, "What? Certain someone?"

Satomi sat beside the Chao Bao Zi, rubbing her head like one touch something that too much contact with will kill them. Chao grinned at Haruna, "Sayo has a crush."

Haruna wiped the blood from her knuckles off on her pants, "Really? A crush? Who? Who? WHO? I DEMAND TO KNOW."

Sayo hid her face, "I never said I had a crush."

Haruna's face contorted more times than a broken pipe system, "Telllll meeeeee!"

Sayo quickly darted behind Satsuki, "Leave me alone, Paru-saaaaan!"

The cook turned her head back towards Sayo, blinking quietly at her, while Haruna prepared some unseen arsenal for a second assault. "Not until you spill!"

Sayo grabbed Satsuki's shirt, positioning her strategically between herself and Haruna. "Nooooooo…"

Satsuki's eyes floated on her surroundings, seeming to be pondering how exactly she got into this situation, while Haruna attempted to find herself away around, "Whyyyyy?"

To prevent the probability of excessive length and repetition, the following fifteen minutes shall be omitted from the relation of the tale from this keyboard to you. Suffice it to say that, inevitably, Satsuki caused Haruna's rear end to come into contact with a seat, and remain there in that position, phrasing to her sternly, "Calm down. Be nice to Sayo-chan."

Sayo remained in her hiding position until she believed that Haruna was satisfactorily pacified before emitting the words, "Thanks, Satsuki-san."

"Of course."

At a table not so very far away, Satomi, Chao, and Ku were having a quiet conversation. And, as friends who have been at a very large distance from each other tend to do, Chao asked the near-impossible, most certainly desperately annoying question, "So… what's been going on while I've been gone?"

Both Ku and Satomi were silent for lack of ideas of where to start, until Ku quite sagely and comprehensively summed, "Well… lot stuff happen…"

Chao tightened her grip on the sides of her chair and pulled it closer to the table, eyeing them eagerly. Satomi gave a singular chuckle, before quietly and evasively murmuring, "Where to begin…"

"Negi-bozu working his butt off to complete his plan, which was leave Fate-kun in charge of class…"

"I know that, yo." Chao tapped her foot impatiently.

"For all of rest of school."

The foot tapping simply became more impatient.

"Uh-huh. How about the stuff that happened while I was GONE?"

The other two girls then, taking turns, went off on a basic summary of every significant thing that had happened since she had last returned to her time, to which Chao listened intently. By the end, Chao leaned her elbows onto the table, and looked back and forth at her compatriots. "You mean… Misa… self-proclaimed queen of all things erotic… found a steady boyfriend, yo?"

They nodded slowly, and Chao shook her head, leaning back in her chair, her face one of utter shock and amazement. Finally, she smiled at them both, "I am glad you all had such a good time."

"It would been more fun if you been here…"

Chao's glance fell softly on Ku, "Ku, you're so sweet."

There was a moment of a thick silence, which Satomi quickly broke with a cough. Chao, remembering that Satomi was indeed there, turned her eyes back to her, and gave a small grin of guilt worthy to plastered on the face of none other than Captain Jack Sparrow. Satomi laughed quietly upon seeing this face, "Oh, Chao…"

Chao leaned back in her chair, "So… who am I staying with…"

Two suggestions were then put forth simultaneously.

"I can secure our old place in the lab if you want…"

"I is room with some person who no is ever there… I no is ever even seen her face."

Chao's eyes drifted thoughtfully between Ku and Satomi. "Hmmmm… sleep on a cot… sleep in a bed… sleep in a lab… sleep with a blanket… have a robot for a roommate… have a person for a roommate… have a calculator for a pillow… have a… pillow… do I have to tell you which I'm going to choose?"

Ku and Satomi exchanged sideways glances, then looked back at Chao, "Yes."

"The bed!"

Ku's smile curled a little wider, "We is get be roomies."

Chao chuckled, and thought for a moment, _I don't know if this is really a good idea…_ "Yep!" She stood, and as she did, the familiar voice of a reporter filled the air quite fully.

"GOOD KAMI-SAMA, WHEN'D YOU GET BACK?" The group left sitting near Chao chuckled at Kazumi's reaction, as she ran over to them.

"Last night."

"And I missed it? Shame on me. Shame on you for not waking me up! Shame all around. And on you." She pointed at Ku, in a somewhat adversarial manner, though no one was sure why.

Chao allowed Kazumi to cool down for a few moments, before hugging her gently, "It's good to see you too, Kazumi-chan."

Kazumi then handed Chao a slip of paper. "Now, you show up, or I'll put a boot in your ass."

Chao looked down at the paper, discovering that it was an invitation to the 'class reunion'. Kazumi darted about, handing it out to all her classmates who were present.

"Sound like fun." Ku looked up from the invitation shoved nearly into her mouth. "We be able to see others all in same place again!"

Chao chuckled quietly, and leaned her head sideways towards Ku, giving her a sidelong look, "Yes, Ku."

After a deal of silence from reading the invitation, Chao slid it into her pocket, saying to no one in particular, "You know what I haven't had in a long time?"

Ku raised an eyebrow at her, "Huh…?"

Chao began to walk away, "A good spar."

Ku smirked, and followed. "Oo."

Upon their leaving, Haruna was left staring out after them, and then scratched the top of her head slightly, "That was possibly the most sexually dripping I have ever heard the word 'spar'. Well, live, that is."

Satomi shrugged a bit, turning to Haruna in her chair, "Don't tell Chao I said this, but she's had a bit of a girl-crush on Ku for quite a while. Just take a look at the pictures of them from the Tokyo trip in Volume 6."

The grin that then was ascribed to Haruna's face was one resembling a crescent roll with teeth. "I smell a love story unfolding! A beautiful, sensual, possibly erotic love story! Yum!"

Later that afternoon, Kazumi knocked on Misora's door softly, having already found her room. The door was opened slowly, and Kazumi grinned at the somewhat tired looking nun behind the door frame. "Hey."

"Hi."

Kazumi thrust out an invitation to Misora, "Come or get killed."

Misora placed her fingers on the rather demanding, though cordial, document, looking down at it with a brief, fleeting glance, then back up at Kazumi. "I'll be there. Don't worry."

Kazumi nodded sagely, "Good… good." After the second iteration of the word 'good', a moment of silence seemed to last for an eternity between them.

"So…" The girl in the doorway rubbed her neck somewhat awkwardly.

"Yeah… see you there, I guess."

"Yeah… see ya." And the door was closed, somewhat abruptly, in Kazumi's face. She turned on her heel, wondering what produced the awkward silence, and walked away slowly, before stopping and leaning against the wall in the hallway, and thinking to herself. _That was so… weird… felt like I was having a minor heart attack… I really don't get it… that was… just plain weird… I've never had something like that happen before… I'm not an awkward person… What had I wanted to say? What could it possibly be?_ Not finding immediate gratification, she wandered off to diminish her charge by bestowing it upon the other previous members of their class.

That evening, while Haruna did more meaningless things on her computer, her phone gave a shrill set of rings, and she turned her eyes to it slowly. Her fingers reached out, and lifted it, putting it to her ear. "Heeeelllllllo, you have reached the residency of le Great Paru-sama."

There was a small, sad noise on the other end of the line, "Paru…"

"Misa-san?"

"Mhmm."

"Um… whatcha need?" _And why are you calling ME?_

"I just thought you might know a place where a girl can get a good one night stand…"

_I know about two hundred places you can get a good one… but if you want a great one, it narrows it down to about six. _"I see… any reason why?"

Misa was silent for a moment, "I broke up with my boyfriend."

Haruna frowned, "Rough… how come?"

"He's a cheating bastard."

"Oh. Well, good thing you dropped him then. I hope he falls down the stairs. And gets impaled at the bottom. With a bamboo spear. Held by a beautiful girl. With—"

"Paru-san… I really liked him…"

There was a soft sigh from the Paru end of the line, "I'm sorry, Misa-san… but really. You can't stick with guys like that. You have to pick hound dogs over honeybees."

"…what?"

"Well, honeybees may be cute, and come to pollinate you whenever you'd like, and are hardworking and quite committed, but the ultimately fly around to other flowers. It's just in their nature. Hound dogs may be a little less pretty, sometimes a bit less smart, and certainly a lot more lazy, they are true companions, there for you when you need them, and, as lazy as they are, always ready to play, and adorable in their own unkempt way. They're man's best friend for a reason, right? And… please, dear kami-sama don't tell Yue that I just used a mixed metaphor."

Misa chuckled softly, "She won't hear it from me."

The purple-haired girl grinned, "Good girl. So… you said you wanted a one night stand?"

"Yes…"

Haruna turned and pulled a small pocket book out of a drawer. "Alright. I would like to suggest for you the foreign exchange student from Canada."

"Oh?"

"Trust me. Just trust me. Room… 142C."

There was some scribbling from the other side of the phone. "Okay, got it. Thanks, Paru-san… for the encouragement and the room number."

"Any time… with the encouragement or the room number."

They both gave some soft giggles, before saying their goodbyes and hanging up the phone.

* * *

Okay... so, the latest review on this makes no sense. Sure, it's sort of trolly, as your name implies, but what are you referring to as 'gay'? The characters? If so, you are sort of just stating an accepted fact of _Negima!_. Or me? If so, that simply makes no sense. I am a male writing a story about women... and, as the previous analysis points out, at least some gay women at that. So how does that make ME gay? Unless you mean 'gay' as in 'happy'. Or, are you referring to the story? If this is the case, I am afraid that stories have no sexual preference, nor do they have gender. Sorry to burst your bubble. It is, however, currently a fairly light-hearted story, if you are referring to that 'gay' again. Add some specificity before trolling next time, or you just sound like a bamboozling, vague, incoherent buffoon who just has the hobby of attempting to tear other people down. Have a nice day. :)

Also, I would love to get feedback on this chapter. I felt it was kind of choppy and a little badly organized, but tell me how I did, please (That is a polite way of saying REVIEW). I promise that the story will begin to pick up as it goes along. Pinkie swear. See you next chapter (REVIEW)!


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